The power of the pink pound is forcing shop workers to hide "murder music" under the counter.

Record shop MVC in Brighton has taken albums containing homophobic lyrics, such as those by Jamaican singer Beenie Man, off its shelves.

Customers can still buy the CDs but must request them from staff.

The move followed a letter of complaint sent to record giants by Brighton and Hove city councillor Simon Williams which mentioned the offending lyrics.

Coun Williams, who represents the Green Party in Kemp Town, said record shops were acting irresponsibly by selling music by artists such as Buju Banton, Elephant Man, Vybz Kartel and Bounty Killer.

At the time, Coun Williams, who is openly gay, said: "It's wrong for a reputable record chain to sell music in their stores that incites the execution of gay people."

Coun Williams, who dubbed the offending tracks "murder music", stressed he was only targeting songs which contained extreme homophobic lyrics and did not want to ban the singers completely.

Two months later, the shelves of the MVC store in Air Street contain no CDs by the offending artists. Instead, the pile of CDs are stashed under the counter.

Staff said yesterday they took the decision to remove them from shelves after receiving Coun Williams' letter.

Store manager Thomas Plautz said: "Brighton has such a high gay population and I would not want to offend anyone. But we can't act as a censor. It's up to record companies to make that decision."

An MVC spokeswoman said Brighton was its only store in the UK to have removed the CDs. HMV and Virgin said they would not bow to Coun Williams' demands, although HMV has banned the artists from appearing on its promo Playlist CD, a free gift given to customers to promote new releases.